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Canada Orders Deportation of American War Resister

Canada has ordered the deportation of an American war resister. The Associated Press reports that Kimberly Rivera has been ordered to leave the country by September 20th. Rivera, a US Army Private, fled the United States to avoid another tour in Iraq. After a 2006 deployment Rivera said she became disillusioned with the mission and fled to Canada in 2007.

Living in Toronto with her husband and four children, Rivera is among and estimated 200 Iraq war resisters living in Canada. The country’s Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has ordered immigration officers to red flag US soldiers who are applying for asylum as criminally inadmissible. Michelle Robidoux of War Resisters Support Campaign told the AP that has “tainted the whole process.”

Kenney has called Iraq war resistors “bogus refugees,” has ignored not only public opinion about the Iraq war in Canada but the Canadian Parliament’s resolutions calling on Kenney not to deport war resistors. Kenney refuses to acknowledge or provide any justification for deporting the war resistors, hiding behind phony arguments.

Rivera told the AP that she is overwhelmed. “I don’t want to face reality. I respect Canada’s laws and I will still proceed with what it is that I have to do, but I’m trying to take it one step at a time so I don’t have meltdowns like earlier.”

For more information visit the War Resisters Support Campaign, founded in 2004 to assist U.S. military personnel who refused to participate in the Iraq war and came to Canada seeking asylum. Visit CourageToResist.org for information about American war resisters, and sign the Change.org petition, which already has more than 13,000 signatures.